1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to water supply systems for fowl or small animals. More specifically the field of the invention is that of brackets used for interconnecting elements of an elongate water dispensing assembly.
2. Prior Art
The proper provision of water is essential for safe and efficient nurturing of fowl and small animals, for example in raising chickens. However, problems with the water supply can adversely affect the chickens. Leakage in the water supply system can foster bacteria growth and infection, and left unchecked can flood the hen house and drown the chickens. Therefore, water accumulating on the floors of the hen house should be avoided. In addition, the physical structure of the watering system may include portions which are conducive to undesirable accumulation of dirt and bacteria, particularly with the close proximity of a supply of water.
To accommodate the desire for better water supply, water supply systems exist which include a horizontal supply conduit having dispensers with a housing and a valve clamped to the conduit. These prior art systems utilize plastic bodies and metal parts commonly formed by machining. The machined parts of the valve can wear and an effect of that wear is that the rate of liquid flow through the valve increases, to the point the flow is in excess of what the chicken can ingest. If too much water is dispensed by each valve opening, then the excess water can wet the chicken and wet the litter which fosters bacteria and mold and thereby endangers their lives. The aforementioned wear necessitates replacement or removal of the valves of water supply systems.
A watering system described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,284,036, 4,491,088, 4,589,373, and 4,637,345 solves many of the aforementioned problems, and each of these patents is expressly incorporated by reference herein. Referring to FIG. 7, the valve 10 has a tubular body 12 with a tapered lower bore 14. Valve 10 is sealed by a pin 16 having a head 18 resting its lower surface 20 on a rubber cup 22 inside the valve 10. A metal ball 24 sets on the head 18, and three ring seal 26 is formed by head 18 abutting cup 22 and ball 24 abutting two seats 28 of cup 22. Ball 24 is unseated by tilting pin 16 and moving it out of axial alignment with body 12, so that the head lower surface 20 rests only on a small portion of cup 22, and ball 24 is raised to move it out of engagement with seats 28. Only a small amount of water is able to flow through the restricted gaps between ball 24 and cup 22 when pin 16 is tilted, and the droplet so formed flows along pin 16 to its bottom end 30. Pin 16 is a shiny metallic element which attracts the attention of chickens. Normally, a chicken moves pin 16 with its beak, and valve 10 lets a small droplet of water pass so that the chicken can easily consume the droplet as it flows down pin 16.
Valve 10 is mounted on the underside of conduit 32 at predetermined points. Annular flange 34 extends from body 12 and receives O-ring 36 which seals valve 10 to the conduit 32. A lateral projection 38 has a shank 40 with a hook 42 for attaching over a part of an integral section of conduit 32. The conduit 32 is attached to the underside of a ballast pipe 44 by bracket assembly 46 which is sonically welded to the conduit 32. Ballast pipe 44 may be any rigid elongate member, such as a galvanized steel pipe. As depicted in FIG. 2, bracket assembly 46 is bolted to ballast pipe 44 and thus holds conduit 32 in spaced relation below. Fingers 48 at the top of bracket assembly 46 are used to hold an electrically conductive cable.
In FIG. 3, bracket assembly 46 is shown disassembled into upper bracket 50 and lower bracket 52. Lower bracket 52 has a hook 54 on one side for locking with slot 56 of upper bracket 50. Bolt 58 extends through each bracket 50 and 52 on the opposite side of slot 56 and hook 54, and is threadably engaged by nut 60 to couple upper and lower brackets 50 and 52. Semi-circular top surface 66 and semi-circular bottom surface 68 engage and hold ballast pipe 44 when bolt 58 is tightened. Upper bracket 50 also has notches 62 on the peripheral wall 64, with a total of four notches 62 positioned equidistantly around the circumference of wall 64.
To hang the water supply assembly, flexible lines of the suspension system were originally designed to attach through notches 62. A U-hook (not shown) may be used to attach bracket assembly 46 to a flexible line, although the flexible lines can also extend through notches 62. The U-hook is attached to bracket assembly 46 by its ends extending through notches 62, and the flexible lines are then tied to the U-hook. However, notches 62 allow dust and germs to accumulate within upper bracket 50 which may allow germs and disease to foster within and then spread to the animal population. Upper brackets 50 may be cleaned by spraying water into notches 62, however this is a difficult and time consuming task which has only limited effectiveness. Bracket assembly 46 must be disconnected and the interior region 70 exposed and cleared to thoroughly clean upper bracket 50.
Notches 62 are no longer needed to attach to flexible lines of the system. As described in the co-pending application entitled "HANGER FOR WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM AND METHOD OF INSTALLATION", Ser. No. 07/429,226, filed on Oct. 31, 1989, the disclosure of which is explicitly incorporated by reference, the flexible lines can be attached to separate hangers 72. With the use of hangers 72, notches 62 are not needed and only serve to provide a access to interior region 70 so that dust and germs may accumulate. However, many conventional watering systems exist which unnecessarily have notches 62. What is needed is to prevent the undesired accumulation within interior region 70.